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  1. #1
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    Demonstrated perfectly, OC..!

    Once the illustrations had become 20th century in their fashion style, I think they found much more accord with the kilt-wearing public, and changed little until, say, the 1990s.

    There seems to then come a new kilt-wearing generation who had different ideas of fashion, and colour tones in both tweeds and tartans took a turn for earthier and muddier (perhaps more natural was intended), and the paler fawns and 'stone' shades of tweed with conventional clan tartans now seem to be less popular. And so the Semple illustrations seem now seem quaintly old-fashioned.

    Most of the Highland Dress outfitters I see here in northern Scotland have their shop-windows display the latest trends - no doubt to attract the young gent getting kitted out for his wedding and the like. The current fashion is for all grey - which makes the whole outfit look as if it has been given a dunking in black dye - not enough to make eveything totally black, but close enough.

    Personally, I prefer the softer, paler shades Semple shows, but I cannot remember when I last saw such tweeds in stock garments. Hose, too, are now seldom seen in soft, tweed-matching tones - perhaps we here a Xmarks should start a revivalist movement...

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  3. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troglodyte View Post
    Hose, too, are now seldom seen in soft, tweed-matching tones - perhaps we here a Xmarks should start a revivalist movement...
    I have found that Rowan Felted Tweed DK makes for great tweed-matching tones...

  4. #3
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    The illustrations depict the kilt and accompanying garments worn in scenarios which make the wearer appear relaxed and natural. They make the kilt look an attractive garment which the observer would want to own.

    From where I am looking some of the shoes appear brown. This could be an attempt to portray reflected colour however, in contrast others are obviously black.

    What I very much like are the bonnets. They are clearly a single colour, apart from the tourie, and have no dicing. This makes them much more attractive to me.

    They are also well fitted and shaped and less floppy unlike the more modern ones.

    The headgear should not be so garish as to detract from the rest of the attire.
    Last edited by Janner52; 24th March 25 at 03:08 PM.
    Janner52

    Exemplo Ducemus

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  6. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Janner52 View Post
    The illustrations depict the kilt and accompanying garments worn in scenarios which make the wearer appear relaxed and natural. They make the kilt look an attractive garment which the observer would want to own.
    I hadn't thought of that but you're exactly right! The illustrations would be fitting for a catalogue selling Highland wear.

    Quote Originally Posted by Janner52 View Post
    From where I am looking some of the shoes appear brown.
    Yes some of the Semple illustrations clearly show brown shoes, for example MacNeil of Barra, Graham of Menteith, Fraser of Lovat, Campbell, and Hay, while several others are possibly intended to be brown.

    Quote Originally Posted by Janner52 View Post
    What I very much like are the bonnets. They are clearly a single colour, apart from the tourie, and have no dicing. This makes them much more attractive to me.
    In the book the vast majority of the bonnets are plain, however there are a few diced ones.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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  8. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troglodyte View Post

    ...the paler fawns and 'stone' shades of tweed with conventional clan tartans now seem to be less popular. And so the Semple illustrations seem now seem quaintly old-fashioned.
    Yes it's interesting that most of the Semple illustrations show stone, fawn, and pale grey. Lovat blue and Lovat green appear but often a bit more pale.

    And it's not just those illustrations, there are colour photos from Highland Games in the 1950s and 1960s showing the same tweed colours.

    For whatever reason by the 1960s and 1970s most of the jackets become Lovat Blue and Lovat Green, with Moss probably the third most-seen. I have a photo somewhere (I can't find it) of around 20 men at a Highland Games and all of them are wearing either Lovat Blue or Lovat Green.

    I'll go with Moss and Fawn over the Lovats any day.

    Quote Originally Posted by Troglodyte View Post
    Most of the Highland Dress outfitters I see here in northern Scotland have their shop-windows display the latest trends - no doubt to attract the young gent getting kitted out for his wedding and the like. The current fashion is for all grey - which makes the whole outfit look as if it has been given a dunking in black dye - not enough to make eveything totally black, but close enough.
    Yes kilt hire has gone through a Grey Scale fad which sadly isn't quite over yet. And its apparent replacement, an all-black fad.



    Quote Originally Posted by Troglodyte View Post
    perhaps we here a Xmarks should start a revivalist movement...
    Yes! It's starting already.
    Last edited by OC Richard; 25th March 25 at 10:37 AM.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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  10. #6
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    All of the jacket colours in the Semple illustrations look good. I tend to agree that the lighter colours look good and work better. I also like Lovat Green. The modern monochromatic colours used both for the kilt, jacket and hose take away the contrast between the kilt and accessories, which is what gives it its style.

    The exception, in my view, is the navy blue which works well in a more dignified environment in place of the black Argyll with silver buttons. A garment of which I am not a fan. Especially as a pipe band uniform.
    Janner52

    Exemplo Ducemus

  11. #7
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    Grayscale and "symbolic" tartans

    Quote Originally Posted by Troglodyte View Post
    Most of the Highland Dress outfitters I see here in northern Scotland have their shop-windows display the latest trends - no doubt to attract the young gent getting kitted out for his wedding and the like. The current fashion is for all grey - which makes the whole outfit look as if it has been given a dunking in black dye - not enough to make eveything totally black, but close enough.
    When my sister, son, and I visited Scotland summer of 2023, I was surprised as well to see the prominence of those "grayscale" tartans in prestigious Edinburgh shop windows (including Nicolson and Kinloch Anderson). But, I thought some of them were rather attractive, and when I learned of the "Lunar" tartan (and Barb Tewksbury's modification of it, as well as the Scottish Registry of Tartans' apparent posture that anyone could register virtually anything, as long as they paid the fee), the other current and enduring trend (to encourage or at least tolerate symbolism to color choices in tartan design) drew me to that specific tartan, because the symbolism of the Lunar2 modification expressed some of what was great in the "American Experiment," i.e., "one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind."

    But, if one is a "serial kilter," and grayscale is the only arrow in one's quiver, that's just sad, and, of course "just my opinion," too.

    One of the recipients of a "Lunar 2" kilt from Barb Tewksbury is an astronaut who played Amazing Grace on the pipes on the International Space Station (available on YouTube). I'm told he HAS a kilt in "Lunar2." I have no idea whether the reason he was not kilted while piping 200 miles up has to do with with weight limitations for one's personal baggage on that VERY pricey airline, or perhaps the embarrassment that might derive from wearing it in zero gravity conditions.

    And, color symbolism in tartan design is not unknown even in Scotland. Lochcarron weaves and Gordon Nicolson sells fabric in a registered and restricted "Nursing" tartan, where the colors match the colors in the nursing uniforms of those who toil for the Scottish National Health Service. I think that tartan is VERY attractive, and I'm trying to obtain a kilt made in it for my spouse, who is at LEAST as proud of her own service as a registered nurse as she is about her choice of spouse.

  12. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troglodyte View Post

    ...the paler fawns and 'stone' shades of tweed with conventional clan tartans...
    I thought of your comments just now watching this video from 1983, both men are wearing fawn/stone/beige tweed jackets, Seumas with matching fawn/stone hose (well shown at 4:05) showing that the Semple approach was still in effect at least with older gents at that time.

    At 4:50 we can see that Iain is wearing hand-knit Arran hose, at the pinnacle of fashion at that time. Also note Iain's lovely brass-cantled brown Hunting Sporran (11:58) this being prior to the black & chrome Hunting Sporran becoming the standard piper's sporran the world over.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvMP66X1dZs
    Last edited by OC Richard; 31st March 25 at 05:08 AM.
    Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte

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    JPS

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